The info comes by way of Nawzil, who has been posting quite a bit of information regarding Microsoft and Nokia’s plans for the upcoming OS and firmware update. We have heard that GDR3’s features have been briefed by Microsoft with various people recently, so we’re not too surprised to hear information is now coming forward—leaks are leaks.

So what’s new? Let’s take a look.

Windows Phone 8 GDR 3

Support for 1080p display for new devices like the Lumia 1520.

Support for new processors.

3 medium or 6 small tiles on a row for phones with screen resolution of at least WXGA (1280 x 768) including Lumia 920, 925, 928, 1020 and of course the Lumia 1520.

Close apps by tapping on the X on top right in multitasking view. The icon of the app appears below.

Screen Rotation lock: When auto-rotate screen is off, your screen will stay in the current orientation when you rotate your phone.

Driving Mode: Turns of all notifications except texts and phone calls when you're driving. You can also turn calls and texts off completely or set Driving Mode to text and automatic reply like "Hey, I am driving right now. I'll reply you later." Driving Mode can start automatically when your phone connects to a Bluetooth device.

Connect to WiFi in OOBE when switching on your new phone for the first time or after you your reset your phone, so you can restore your data even before connecting to a cellular network.

Attach Office files (.doc, .xls, .ppt) and .pdf files in email.

Nokia Bittersweet shimmer firmware

Glance Screen: Notifications in glance screen similar to the notifications on the lock screen. Choose from any of the 20 accent colours for night mode instead of just red in Amber. You can choose whether you want to keep the glance screen always on when charging, in Amber it is always on when charging.

If you’ve been following Windows Phone Central closely, most of that should be familiar. What is new is that WXGA (1280 x 768) devices will get new tile sizes, allowing 3 medium or 6 small tiles on a row. Previously it was assumed that only 1080P devices would get that feature, but at least according to Nawzil, current high end devices will also have the option. It’s not clear though how it will all work.

Attach Office files is also new and if accurate, a very welcomed addition. Not being able to attach documents has been a major sore spot for many in enterprise.

The Glance Screen improvements we already knew about but not so much the 20 accent colors for the display—that’s a novel and unique addition.

We should note that this is not a full changelog either for GDR3 and there are presumably other under the hood fixes included as well i.e. a lot of little things that help your everyday experience but aren’t as attention grabbing.

Microsoft and Nokia are expected to detail the new OS version and Bittersweet shimmer firmware later this month in Abu Dhabi.

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Are you the sme guy running the Fan page?
How do you know that all of this is true? Are you briefed by MS?
If yes, how is it that we have never seen a lumia 920 running GDR3, with that new tile structure of 6 medium apps.
That alone is enough to say most of what is simply a hoax.
PS: I would love to see all of this true on my Nokia 925.

What fan page?
If you read the above mentioned article about the Nokia Camera app you can know about me.
You have never seen that? I remember a photo was leaked about a month ago, may be you didn't see. It was also posted by someone in comments below, check it out.

also what about the attaching multiple files to email. Without a proper file explorer that is simply not possible. So i doubt the possibility of this feature since there is no news of having a file explorer in wp8

Actually, it is possible without a file explorer. Namely, the "File Chooser" from Windows 8. If Microsoft brought it over to windows phone, api's and all, it'd be just as good. Especially since, on windows 8, apps can integrate with it, so imagine selecting multiple documents from your dropbox and attaching them in an email.

What makes you think that without a file explorer its impossible to attach files to email? it could simply take you to the office hub and let you choose files from there. When you receive the same thing would happen (files will go to the office hub)

Hmmm... May be.. I understand you are saying, when we are attaching mail, we will first get an option to choose ppt, doc or photos. If we select photos then gallery, else we will be redirected to office hub.

sounds good. Lets see how that gets unfolded. Its a welcome feature voted by me along with ability to have background image for start screen.

Looks like new tile sizes with everything 2/3* the current size. The large tile is replaced by a medium tile, with room for 3 on a row or a medium and a full tile. Someone posted a "dummy" jpeg with the new layout last month in the forums, it works well on the 920. It does make the small tile a bit small, but I think it's worth the trade off to display more tiles.

There's no "new" tile sizes. Just, on WXGA and above devices, the start screen will allow for more tiles per row (in essence, the tiles are "shrunk", however, that word is inaccurate. Its more like on windows 8, where devices with a larger resolution have more room for tiles, and Windows Phone 8 is currently "blowing up" the tiles to fit the screen, and GDR3 will more accurately reflect the display size on the start screen. At least, that's my understanding.)

Does custom tones for text, email, etc mean that I can add a custom tone to my phone that is used for all text messages, or does it mean that I can add custom tones to a contact so that her text messages sound diffferent than text messages from other people?

Yes, finally. It has always astonished me that a phone with office on board does not allow you to email the files you produce oe edit. Lets hope it also allows you to attach from Skydrive which is very important. Sharing from Skydrive is not always appropriate.

And that's only allows you to attach 1 office file at a time, which is lame. I hope now we are able to attach multiple office files.
And I'm still waiting patiently for a light wight file manger to allow easier file namagement.

Yes the email attachment is the biggest benefit to me right now. Custom tones is cool too but not something i've been clamoring for.
The Nokia Camera app should be helpful to a lot of people as I rarely use the Smart Camera app. With it folded into one camera app it'll be easier to use its features.

Tones are important for me becasue my wife, my 2 brothers, my parents and some friends use Nokia WP... only my sister doesn't (Galaxy III). So, there is a lot of confusion when an email, message or notification arrives.

But we can already choose different sounds for ringers, text, voicemail and email. If yours sound the same as the rest in your family just change them.
I think the update must mean you can choose a unique sound based on who sent you the text,voicemail,email etc. so that you know who it's from just based on the sound.

We know that part but sounds are similar and not everyone is musician to differentiate between similar sounds.
As a friend of mine said one time. You know when someone has a WP without looking by the characteristic sound of a message.

I found Unify a little flaky in calendar search, though it is nice enough for searching music albums. I have used "Calendar Search" for a little more than a year. In fact, I specifically asked the developer if he would make the app. He turned it out about a month later. It works pretty well, probably as well it could work given the limitations of WP8. A native app would be faster and have live filtering like email search.

Calendar search is not a feature I have missed thus far, but I do miss having a week view and being able to see more than one appointment on the live tile. It wouldn't be so bad if third party developers were allowed to modify existing appointments because there are some nice calendar apps out there, but when I need to modify an appointment I always have to revert back to the native app.

MS needs to either give me a fully functional calendar or allows third party developers to give me a fully functional calendar.

Already has been possible. Not from the email client but from Office, long press, share option. This new way will allow the dumbest to find it, plus adding different things in the same email, I'd recon.. ^_~

No, it really isn't available now. Sure it is in a brand new email, but that does not cover a ton of situations. There is no way to attach a document to an email chain. Huge missing feature, imo. Glad to see it finally show up.

Okay example... You are having an email chain with a job head hunter. And they ask you to send your resume. You can go to the office hub and hit share (creating a new email chain... Inconvenient). Or you can use this more natural method of replying to his email and attach what he requested.

But this is a very half-assed way to do attachments. Why did it take so long (and it's still not confirmed if this is the case) to make it possible to select documents to attach from within the email app and hopefully to be able to add attachments while replying to an email string. This boggles me.

in the photo there's a lumia 920 from at&t, i dont want to get my hopes high but what if at&t is going to release gdr3 instead of amber? ... *reality check* or, you know, release amber and wait until december to release gdr3 and around may wp 8.1

If she bought an ATT 1020, you could only use it in France as an ATT roaming device (stupid expensive). You could ask them to unlock it but that is a gamble. Either way, the firmware will be ATT firmware so will only be updated when ATT feels like doing so.
Strongly recommend she buys a 1020 from a non-carrier retailer. Avoid the bloatware, branding, firmware modifications, and likely be among the first to get GDR3.

those are different things... unbranded and Unlocked for example, I dont live in US but I have ATT phones. thats because its unlocked, but i was always restricted to AT&T updates....
of course I could get a wp7 phone unbranded, after unbranding it... it received the updates immediately.
so if you unlock your phone you would be able to use other carriers sim on it, but it will not change the brand part, unless you buy an unbranded 1020, or find away to hack the registry to unbrand the phone (which i dont know if its possible), and im sure there are other options available for doing that

so yeah your sister or whatever, will get the update. but you know, ATT is slow releasing it, thats why unbranded phones are better.

Unless you flash the ROM directly, once an AT&T phone always an AT&T phone. Doesn't matter if its locked or not. If you bought one from Rodgers for example, then same thing, it would always get updates from Rodgers. The only way to change this would be to flash it with a ROM from a different carrier.

I am on Tmob with the AT$T 920, in the US, so yeah getting fum bucked (patent pending) pretty good by AT$T.
Two questions...
What would happen if I flashed my AT$T 920 with T-Mobs 925 firmware? Brick, too risky, or success?
When you flash the ROM is it just WP8 or is a flash from a carrier like Roger? For example, what would show up on the splash screen when I turn the phone on.

I think that it would be safer to flash it with a different carrier Lumia 920. My 920 had a Telcel ROM (Mexico) and flash it with a France Country Varian ROM. It was a different product, Telcel 920 is a RM-820 and the ROM I'm using is for a RM-821... everything works great.

Although I think that going for a Lumia 925 ROM is going over the board.

I know its coming, but as I said, I feel that they are just too slow in dishing out features, especially given that they are well behind ios and android. I love my L920, the interface is beautiful, its buttery smooth but its lagging in terms of some essential features. And its not even enough to get these features, MS has to bake in things that ios and android dont have for ppl to jump in.

quoted from the article:We should note that this is not a full changelog either for GDR3 and there are presumably other under the hood fixes included as well i.e. a lot of little things that help your everyday experience but aren’t as attention grabbing.

And a bluetooth HID profile. They removed it before WP7, and still haven't put it back in. I think WP is the only mobile or desktop platform that does not support standard bluetooth keyboards! It's killing us.

Definitely in agreement - while plenty of people will be all about the smaller tiles, I guarantee there will be an equal number that will have trouble with them being shrunk. MSFT keeps touting the start screen as being such a personalized facet of Windows Phone, and this would be a perfect customization option - but don't force it on people that don't want it!
Best case scenario will be an option to toggle between a start screen width of "2 Medium Tiles" and "3 Medium Tiles."

With Android, it really seems to be more on a case-by-case basis given all the different phone specs and skins running on top of it. I would say they are pretty close though with some Android phones being much better.

I dont agree with that at all...My Trophy was great (at least a day with tons of videos, texts, games and a few calls) same with my 928. I can do all that and still get like 2-3 days out of my 928 if I dont charge it...(I'm strict on what runs in the background, only apps I use every day)

My wife has a iPhone(4S) and so does my brother(5), both are always charging their phones and I think I use my phone more during the day than both of them.

I do not agree with this either. Perfect case, especially now with iOS7, me and my little brother, I have a Lumia 925 he has an iPhone 5.

Today(and every other day) I disconnect my phone from the charger at 9am for class, he disconnects his at 7am(for highschool) and we both get back home around the same time this semester (around 3pm) and it is not even close. I can add on those extra two hours and its still not close.

I don't plug in my phone again until 1AM or so, he needs to plug it in around 9PM and we have very similar apps installed on both devices (twitter, instagram(6tag), facebook, two emails each) he has a lot more games than I do cause I don't play games except poker lol but I ask him if he plays during his time at school or if he plays music and he doesn't. When he does he has to charge the phone as soon as he gets home lol

Anywho, I do not think iOS7 performs very well with battery as before with iOS 6 or 5. And as far as Android goes, I have a Evo LTE with 4.1 and Sense and that device lasted me just as long as my Lumia 925 is lasting me now, people say it was cause Sense 4 stopped processes in the back very quickly, but w.e lol it was awesome on battery.

I agree with you as far as the battery zapping goes. My 920 will have a full battery and then I can literally watch the battery meter go from full to 10% in 1 second! It doesn't happen alot but when it does, it pisses me off soooo bad! Sometimes I can turn my 920 off and then back on and I'll gain about 20% battery back. I just don't understand :/

when is android a power conserver?
i have a tablet (samsung tab 3) and was even known when i worked with cellphones when they first started coming out that all apps on androids never actually close out unless you stop them, so they continue to run even if you have the app/task killer. i actually charge my tablet more so than my phone (925) which closes out apps normally when you push the back button.

however with windows, have you checked your background apps that are running? some of them you can block, and keep off or until you use that app again, while some will always run that you cannot stop unless you delete the app that does. sometimes if you hard reset your phone as well that can fix a battery drainage issue from a setting internally though thats normally a last resort if it continues. i hope that helps in fixing your battery issue

I always close out any apps that are running and then only background task I have running is Amazing Weather HD. I've tried hard resetting billions of times and it never works. The last time I did a hard reset, my 920 got stuck in rotating gears for over 48 hours. That blew and I don't want to have to do it again just to have nothing happen and it get stuck again.

Also I've been a Windows OS user for years now so I'm not new to the game by any means :) It just sucks because I love Windows and my 920 but I just need things fixed and I want to feel like Microsoft cares what we want. I feel like they rush into it and don't think things through before they release a new update or a new OS for that matter. Typical Microsoft I guess.

This is a really nice changelog for what's only suppose to be a "medium" update. They are positioning themselves to blow the competition out of the water with WP 8.1 and new devices from all OEMs. If you couple 8.1 with a lowering or outright removal of WP licensing fees, MS could take 2014 by storm.

I didn't realize that so many phones were getting the 3 Med tiles across home screen change. I assumed that was for 1020p devices only. Either way this is a huge update. Good for MS for fixing so much stuff in one update.

3 large tiles side-by-side on the 1020, 928, 925 and 920? I actually don't see that working, the tile sizes would all have to shrink to fit them all in on a screen that size, and I really can't see it working. The small tiles would be minute!

How can I not use tiles on my home screen? They're not likely to make tile-scale a toggle-able option, so their sizes are going to be reduced, whether I want 3-across or not (which on a wider screen I wouldn't mind). What I'm saying is that I think reducing the tile sizes by the necessary amount to make 6-small-across or 3-large-across would make it look cramped and messy

I said that 3 sizes was a good idea, and I though the gutter was wasted space, getting rid of it was a good idea and let them make tiles bigger, and it didn't look daft with that big arrow floating around. What they're saying they're going to do now is cram an extra Wide-tile sized column into the same space but to achieve this, tile sizes will have to be significantly reduced (in all likelihood to smaller than they were in WP7), and on screens of the size found on the aforementioned phones, I don't see it working either visually or functionally.
So small tiles are small now right, you can get 4-across. Imagine how small they'd have to be to fit 6-across, and then imagine trying to hit one with your thumb.